In the business of renting, cars, trucks, moving equipment, or other types of products, it is necessary to vary the rental rates depending on a variety of factors, such as the geographical location of the rental facility, seasonal fluctuations, inventory levels and other factors that are well known in the rental industry. In this regard, a central business concern for companies with multiple rental faciliies (collectively referred to herein as “entities”) will typically set the rental rates for its various entities based on the entities' geographical location, rental trends, seasonal specials and other factors. Typically, to accomplish the rate setting function, a user studies the various factors and sets the rental rates.
Under known systems, rates are set by selecting reference cities and setting a rate for each of the reference cities. However, if the business concern is large and there are hundreds of cities in which there are rental facilities, then it may not be practical to set individual rates for each city in which the rental business operates. Accordingly, as a practical matter, the rate selected for a reference city will also be the applicable rate for all cities in the area surrounding the reference city, e.g., within a pre-defined radius of the reference city. By grouping the cities together, the user's job will be more manageable.
The disadvantage of this known system is that because the reference city and surrounding cities are grouped together, the rate for the reference city and the surrounding cities must always be the same. The user may choose the city which he or she designates the reference city, however, once the reference city selection is made, the cities within the surrounding area will have the same rate.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a system which allows the user greater freedom when selecting the specific area for which rates will be set and provide numerous options and tools to accomplish the rate setting task.
The rates set for rental products, or for any other service, is dynamic and must reflect the demands of the market at any given time. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide tools for the user that would provide them with market information and assist them in setting rates, even for a single city without affecting the rate of other cities within a pre-defined area, in a quick, efficient manner. Furthermore, it is desirable to provide a system which immediately broadcasts the set rate to the entities.